South West TAFE chief executive officer Mark Fidge says he's "excited" by a state and federal government agreement that will bring $3 billion into Victoria's vocational training sector.
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The two governments signed a long-awaited National Skills Agreement on October 16, which will expand the state's training sector and tip up to $3.15 billion of federal money into vocational education over the next five years.
The agreement will take effect from January 2024 and comes at a crucial point on Victoria's path to up-skilling and growing its workforce to fill expected clean energy jobs in the coming decade.
Mr Fidge said the announcement was a significant show of support from the federal government.
"Much of what this agreement is doing is expanding the hugely successful programs we've been running for the past couple of years," Mr Fidge said.
"I think this announcement is just fantastic, putting TAFE at the centre of that training strategy."
He pointed to the free TAFE initiative that has rolled out across the state since 2019 and has rapidly expanded access and engagement in the sector. The new agreement will pour $105 million into extending the program, creating an extra 62,800 places in more than 80 courses over the next three years.
"They've looked closely at what's worked in arranging this agreement," Mr Fidge said.
He said there was also a focus on "regional and rural" skills in the agreement that boded well for regional hubs like Warrnambool.
"That acknowledgement of the importance of regional and rural learners should hopefully mean significant money flowing through to the regions," he said.
It will also come with the development of nationally networked Centres of Excellence, building on the collaboration between different parts of the education sector.
"We've seen the collaboration between TAFEs and universities and skills agencies in recent years, which is also supported here. We've been doing this kind of thing for some time, but this supports it to build further," Mr Fidge said.
"The Centre of Excellence concept is all about creating hubs as focus areas for specialist training. The south-west has a real shot of establishing a clean energy hub for the region and beyond."
South West TAFE received $5 million in the May state budget for an innovation and design centre with a green energy focus, while Deakin University's Hycel Technology Hub is due to be finished in 2024. The Warrnambool City Council has declared its ambition to push for a local skills hub in collaboration with the local TAFE and university.
"Clean energy is massive for the future everywhere, but particularly for us," Mr Fidge said.
"This whole agreement is driven by the need for jobs and the skills demand that's around the corner.
"You'll certainly find it ramps up from here."
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